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More Clear Channel Cuts Ahead?

From this morning's Radio Business Report:

Sources report that CC is planning another series of massive employee terminations and will be using syndicated programming and shift the majority of their operations to national programming by inserting large amounts of PSA's claiming this is Localism.

http://www.rbr.com/radio/14099.html
 
BossRadioDJ said:
From this morning's Radio Business Report:

Sources report that CC is planning another series of massive employee terminations and will be using syndicated programming and shift the majority of their operations to national programming by inserting large amounts of PSA's claiming this is Localism.

http://www.rbr.com/radio/14099.html

Syndicated = local. Not to be overly literary, but this reminded me of 1984 (not the year - the book by George Orwell) in which the "Ministry of Peace" was the War department and the "Ministry of Love" administered torture.

The sad part is -music radio has become so minimal that most listeners will likely not notice the difference...or even care.
 
Lkeller said:
Sources report that CC is planning another series of massive employee terminations and will be using syndicated programming and shift the majority of their operations to national programming by inserting large amounts of PSA's claiming this is Localism.

I don't have a problem with this. Many many countries run national programming as the norm. Take Britain, for instance. The BBC runs 7 national networks. Also, American operators such as Univision have had national programming on their radio stations for years and people will happily listen.

The only drawback I see is the 3-hour time difference between the coasts. This makes a big difference because a midday show in NYC is a morning drive show in SF, etc., and they're not very compatible.

As to running more PSAs, this is a good thing. The major broadcasters have cut back so much on PSAs as to make local service nearly meaningless.

I'd like to see KGO syndicate its programming to other ABC stations. WABC and KABC could certainly use it.
 
Starbucks said:
Why would they syndicate their programs when W/KABC are conservative and KGO is liberal? Or is that your bias suggestion.

I don't know what he's thinking but my first thought on David's remark was that KGO's hosts simply are better, but that's more a matter of taste, not politics.
 
Bad idea, IMO.

Remember that KGO's major strength has always been local programming...other than Dean Edell and Money Talk, everything is local. If they syndicated any of that, it would lose it's local flavor even if it originated from KGO studios. And the station would be less likely to cover local issues that would be of little interest to people in New York or Los Angeles.

Perfect example - the Ronn Owens experiment with KABC a few years back. Ronn tried his best, alternating between the two cities - but most KGO listeners felt they had lost something, and didn't want to share. It was not successful for KABC, either.

Of course, KABC fired LA talk icon Michael Jackson who was in that time slot, and Ronn caught a lot of that flack.
 
This isn't Britain...or any OTHER country. This is America and things are done differently. Had de-regulation been avoided, the radio industry wouldn't be quite so far down the toilet. Radio in Britain is, IMO, over-regulated.

They'll run more PSAs hoping to stave off more government involvement, because they won't be able to deliver LOCAL community based commercial radio. These ARE the public airwaves - allegedly. Outside of some public radio, how does a national chain operating radio networks across the country, with just a few central locations, benefit the listener??

Investing in Local radio with some national elements WORKS. Now, because one corporation can own tons of stations across the country, the impact of a downshift in the economy is felt by many more people - especially if that company is already leveraged to the hilt. Hard to build listener loyalty when the listeners these days know that shows are being tracked days ahead of time.



DavidKaye said:
Lkeller said:
Sources report that CC is planning another series of massive employee terminations and will be using syndicated programming and shift the majority of their operations to national programming by inserting large amounts of PSA's claiming this is Localism.

I don't have a problem with this. Many many countries run national programming as the norm. Take Britain, for instance. The BBC runs 7 national networks. Also, American operators such as Univision have had national programming on their radio stations for years and people will happily listen.

The only drawback I see is the 3-hour time difference between the coasts. This makes a big difference because a midday show in NYC is a morning drive show in SF, etc., and they're not very compatible.

As to running more PSAs, this is a good thing. The major broadcasters have cut back so much on PSAs as to make local service nearly meaningless.

I'd like to see KGO syndicate its programming to other ABC stations. WABC and KABC could certainly use it.
 
Starbucks said:
Why would they syndicate their programs when W/KABC are conservative and KGO is liberal? Or is that your bias suggestion.

I have posted on the Internet and Usenet for 15 years, and before that on Fidonet. Anybody who has read me knows that I value the ability to do a good talkshow over the host's political leanings. In the past I have said good things about Michael Savage and early Rush Limbaugh, even though I detest both of them as people. I have also said that I do not listen to Ray Taliaferro, even though his politics are more closely aligned to mine that that of most talkshow hosts. Ray just puts on a piss-poor show.

So, I think an apology from you is in order for suggesting that I have anything but the art and science of radio in mind here. I happen to think that both KABC and WABC have sucky program lineups.
 
DavidKaye said:
I don't have a problem with this. Many many countries run national programming as the norm. Take Britain, for instance. The BBC runs 7 national networks. Also, American operators such as Univision have had national programming on their radio stations for years and people will happily listen.

While Univision has some syndicated shows and one syndicated format, most programming is local outside of that, and some markets, like Miami and Puerto Rico have no outside provided shows .

But your point is good; in many countries with more centralized governments and infrastructures, almost all programming is national. Even in the US Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, nearly all the successful radio staitons used island-wide networks, not local stations in each zone. Of course, PR has only one school system, one poice force, one public health system, etc... it is centralized. That's why the only newspapers are all in San Juan, the only TV origination in San Juan, too.

But the US mainland was developed with a strong state and municipal presence, with localized services prevalent everywhere. Radio, in many aspects, has to mirror at least some of this localism... whether by having some local talkers or locally researching music.
 
Really bad idea, in my opinion, to roll out KGO's personalities in a national forum.

It's been tried and failed. Ronn didn't catch on, Gil Gross has done national on CBS Radio and that effort died, Dean Edell is on nationally now and lots of people ask in that hour "Why?" Gene Burns was successful on the WOR Radio Network but that time, too, diminished into the sunset. Bernie Ward had his hand in a failed national talk effort, as well.

These guys are steeped in the Bay Area culture and have been for years and years. Would it "play in Peoria?" A big risk at best, though the talent is superior to many second and third tier hosts that are out there right now. Just not, necessarily, for a national forum, again, in my opinion.

There's a "magic" that has to work in a national versus local presentation.
 
Re: PSAs. CC is touting a new minimum of 12 PSAs per 24 hours. First of all, many stations exceed that anyway. Secondly, they'll need them with the new syndicated programming to fill the occasional partially-filled stopsets.

And the part about encouraging local leaders and citizens to send in their PSAs? Don't we do this anyway?

CC is making a big statement about a non-event.

It's smoke & mirrors.
 
That's right, Clear Channel cares!...Really, we do! We're not kidding this time... Okay so this is an inexpensive version of a re-branding, but since we fired our PR firm to save money we have to make this up as we go...
 
TVradioguru said:
That's right, Clear Channel cares!...Really, we do! We're not kidding this time... Okay so this is an inexpensive version of a re-branding, but since we fired our PR firm to save money we have to make this up as we go...

It kind of reminds me of Walmart's "Green" campaign. Lipstick on a pig.
 
The big change will be not format, but ownership. They are currently in bankruptcy. So there will be a transfer of owners or something to do with the operations of TRB.
 
1069_KIFR said:
The big change will be not format, but ownership. They are currently in bankruptcy. So there will be a transfer of owners or something to do with the operations of TRB.

Ummm, 1069 ... are you talking about Clear Channel or KTRB? I don't think that Clear Channel is in bankruptcy.
 
Bill Wolfenbarger said:
Re: PSAs. CC is touting a new minimum of 12 PSAs per 24 hours. First of all, many stations exceed that anyway. Secondly, they'll need them with the new syndicated programming to fill the occasional partially-filled stopsets.

And the part about encouraging local leaders and citizens to send in their PSAs? Don't we do this anyway?

CC is making a big statement about a non-event.

It's smoke & mirrors.

Yeah, PSA's will make us sound like we're doing local content. Ever notice that only PSA's that are tied to a sponsor air on a CC station. You can go days without hearing any public service information, then it's one an hour all day as they they work to fullfill their clients needs. It's a joke, but that's CC for you...
 
BossRadioDJ said:
1069_KIFR said:
The big change will be not format, but ownership. They are currently in bankruptcy. So there will be a transfer of owners or something to do with the operations of TRB.

Ummm, 1069 ... are you talking about Clear Channel or KTRB? I don't think that Clear Channel is in bankruptcy.

OOpps! So sorry. I posted this in the wrong thread!! :eek:
 
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